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by buttrice



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Romance, Smut, i'll give chapter specific warnings, im not even sorry about it, probs gonna be a gracious amount of it in here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:49:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25079410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttrice/pseuds/buttrice
Summary: The domesticity of living with an alien who hasn't quite had the chance at a normal life.Distant Lands sequel.
Relationships: Spinel (Steven Universe)/Reader
Comments: 95
Kudos: 120





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the wait, current life events got me fuuuuuucked up with my motivation. if any of y'all are still reading my shit just know that I love you personally

You slam the fridge door, taking a swig out of the bottle of water in your hands that you had just grabbed from the top shelf. It’s hot as hell out this afternoon, and you’ve just finished grabbing the last of your stray belongings to move across town.

“-and you need to make sure to keep your phone on, I’ll be sending you calendar updates to your current schedule. Things have been moved around twice for next week, so expect your lesson times to change again.”

“I appreciate all this Pearl, but you’re acting like I’m moving farther than 5 miles and a single warp away.” You say to the gem lecturing you off a list she’s made on her phone. 

“I just like to be  _ sure. _ ” Pearl narrows her eyes at you slightly. “I know you’re capable of handling things on your own, I just worry.”

“You fret like you’re my mom.” You retort with an eye roll, taking another sip of water. Garnet grins at that, leaning against the counter. It’s just the three of you here in the kitchen.

“Well, I  _ have _ known you for quite a few of your formative years.” She huffs, cheeks tinting blue. “I remember when you first responded to that ad Greg put up, you walked in and-”

“Pearl, oh my god, please no.” You cut her off, capping your bottle, it crinkling slightly in your hands. 

“I think she’s getting empty nest syndrome.” Garnet says with a small chuckle.

“Y/N, you  _ are _ sure about this, right?” Pearl ignores Garnet’s comment. “I know that living on your own can be fairly difficult as is..”

“We talked about this extensively yesterday, Pearl.” You sigh, giving her a specific look. “I’ll be fine. I’ve been through hell already enough as is, this will be a walk in the park for me. Besides, I’ve got Spinel.”

“That’s kind of what I’m worried about.” She replies, levelling her gaze with yours.

You try not to sigh out loud at her again.

Okay, so. Really, it's been less than a week since you've solidly been back on Earth. You can't reasonably expect Pearl of all people to be one for quick adjustment. But you  _ did _ spend a long time with her the day prior going over all her questions about the surface of Golgotha for an updated gem archive entry she's working on. You were kind of hoping it would calm most of her worries about this in general, but you feel like based on some of your responses it  _ might've _ made her worry even more. Not to mention paired with that incident in the kitchen the other day with Amethyst.. 

Even if it was a little painful for you for multiple reasons; like having to re-live terrifying moments in detail - it wasn't as painful as the BARRAGE of questions she pummelled you with about the nature of your relationship with Spinel once she got you alone. Fucking mortifying, that was, when Pearl had the  _ audacity _ to ask if you two had been like this prior to coming back to Earth. You tried keeping much of it to yourself as possible as you aren't super well-adjusted to everything yourself. Like jesus fucking christ, Amethyst and Garnet accepted your text message without much question, other than a thumbs up from her and a solid wall of emojis and expletives from the shorter gem. And maybe a couple roasts about it that you're not going to mention. But  _ they _ had managed to accept it without embarrassing you much, why couldn't Pearl be less..  _ Pearl _ about it?

“What do you think is honestly going to happen?” You retort flatly.

“Well, I don’t have-” Pearl stops to spare a glance at Garnet, who barely even reacts.

“Future-vision is cheating.” She says, lips still forming a wry smile. “She will be fine as long as she remembers to make sure the oven is off.”

“You’re gonna make me paranoid..” You groan. “And see Pearl? I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so." She says like she's waiting to be proven right somehow. You know her enough to not be offended by it. "You didn't forget about your stuff in the bathroom, did you?"

"Nah, but it's not like I won't be back, y'know, in-case you maybe find my missing rubber ducky." You say, feeling your stomach rumble. "And while I do love you both, really, I've got to go get some food in me and finish the lesson plan for next week.."

"Fiiine, go! Clearly we're just here to nag you." Pearl says with a bit of a huff, slight pout on her face, but you can tell she's mainly doing it for the dramatics.

"Don't be like that." You hold back rolling your eyes at her, even if you really want to. You grab the bag with the rest of your things off the counter, shouldering it.

"Did you give me sitting in and watching your first class any more thought?" Garnet asks, resting her hands on her hips. You can't see her eyes, but you know if you could she'd be studying your face for an answer. "It might help with the nervousness you're feeling."

"Yeaaaaaaahhhh," You let out a breath a bit nervously, having given that exactly  _ zero _ extra thought. "I'm still pretty sure that you'd just give me performance anxiety. Give me a few more days to think about it."

You say your goodbyes for now, toeing your shoes on and heading out the door down to the beach below.

Ugh. It's hot, and so is the sand.

You should think about finally replacing your old car. You know, the one that died last year that Peridot said was worth more in scrap metal? You miss that old junker. You'd have to save up a considerable amount of money you don't have, but, ugh, you'll think about this later.

The breeze makes your hair fly into your face, and you're annoyed the entire walk over to town. Your stomach growls again, and you decide on pizza for your afternoon lunch. 

It's kind of a no-brainer when your feet lead you to Fish Stew Pizza, and your hand is already on the door handle and opening it when you subconsciously realize a small hangup, possibly, just as the door opens.

Kiki's inside and manning the counter, and she's the only one in the establishment at all currently. You let out a breath of relief.

"Weeeeeeelcome." She greets you without even looking up from her phone.

"Afternoon'." You say in greeting, feeling awkward preemptively. Kiki looks up immediately when she hears your voice, and her facial expression is completely surprised at yours at first before she quickly schools it to more of a casual, neutral one.

Ah. Lars came through.

You see.. after that first day back you utterly  _ loathed _ the idea of explaining why you're now pink to literally everyone else, and Lars offered to send out a couple quick informative texts. What a fucking bro. You should probably help him out sometime just for the effort alone.

"Y/N, it's good to see you." Kiki says, trying not to be too obvious that she's giving you a glance-over. 

"Thanks, you too." You hear coming out of your mouth, the air conditioning of this place cooling you off rapidly. God you even SOUND awkward. "It's pretty empty in here for the time of day, that's kind of odd."

"Yeahhh, but I'm not gonna complain about it. I'm covering Jenny's shift right now and I'll take the slowness if it means I can just be on my phone.." She's staring at the scar on your face, and you feel.. weirdly self conscious about it. 

"Typical Jenny. You gotta stop going easy on her." You reply, leaning against the counter.

“Oh, I wasn’t going easy. She’s doing my chores this week because of this, so actually she’s the one getting the short stick out of this. I had nothing planned with my time off.” She sets her phone down, and oh my god, she will  _ not _ stop staring. 

“Will you just say what you’re thinking and get this over with?” You spit out, impatient. She reels back for literally only a split second before leaning forward eagerly and getting right into your space.

“Lars wasn’t fucking lying, huh. That place messed you UP.” She reaches over the counter to touch your hair, and if it were nearly anyone other than Kiki you’d punch them in the face. But she helped you deal with her sister back then, so. “I saw you maybe a week and a half ago, and  _ now _ look at you! Pink like Lars and with a giant scar on your face to boot! What  _ didn’t _ happen to you there?!”

“I er, didn’t get the face scar there, and it wasn’t the only one I gained.” You say with a grimace. Your stomach growls again. “How much exactly did he tell you?”

“What!? I mean he told me about you being kidnapped by a deranged gem and that you died, but that was about it!” She replies, expression bewildered.

You sigh. God. Okay. That’s not the  _ worst _ thing he could’ve told people. But he’s not making this any easier for you anyway.

“Listen, can I order a small plain cheese pizza? And then I’ll enlighten you.”

“Yeah, you got it.” She grins, getting this spark in her eye while ringing you up and even giving you a hefty discount. It’s why she’s your favorite sister of the two.

You move to sit by the window table, setting your bag down on one of the other chairs and pulling out your lesson notes.

You don’t really feel super up to this right now, but you should probably go over a few things by yourself that Pearl gave you some pointers on. You’re nervous, like  _ really _ nervous about teaching this class, if you’re honest with yourself. But you also think it will be fun, and interesting, even. You’re only giving two hour-long lessons a week for right now, as the others wanted to see how well you’d fair. Your first lesson is in just a few days. Also, the class currently has 43 gems signed up for it, and that’s quite a bit of a hefty crowd.

You were expecting an interest of maybe.. 4 gems total. This is a little unnerving. You only have the one flier posted up with the other new classes on that board, so you’re guessing word of mouth was how it spread.

You feel your phone buzz a couple times in your pocket, and you pull it out to see who it is. When you see who the messages are from, you can’t help but feel a smile break out on your face that you have a hard time suppressing. Oh, and whoops, you forgot to reply to her earlier messages while you were being lectured by Pearl.

[14:13] Spinel: uuuuugh i just want today to be OVER please

[14:13] Spinel: i think bismuth enjoys sending me to help peridot like some kind of sadist

[14:13] Spinel: its like she knows i dont want to hear about camp pining hearts for the third day in a row? i get peridot needs assistance but i haven’t even  _ seen _ this show and now i have no need to ever physically watch it

[15:42] Spinel: you can’t ignore me in person Y/N

[15:42] Spinel: i haven’t seen you in two days and this is how you treat me?

[15:42] Spinel: like an afterthought?

[15:42] Spinel: hurtful

You roll your eyes to yourself, still grinning. You can feel affection coming through the words even if that isn’t what they’re saying. You’re also ecstatic at the concept of the others getting on with Spinel quickly enough to annoy her on purpose now. You miss her face, and feel a little silly about it, considering it hasn’t even been that long. It sucks, but at least she texts you fairly often. And as of today, well, you get to live with her.

[15:43] Y/N: Rest assured, I  _ can _ ignore you in person.

[15:43] Y/N: Dramatic ass.

[15:43] Y/N: I’m going to be seeing you in like, an hour anyway. Chill.

“Why are you  _ smiling _ like that?” You hear, jolting upright in your seat as Kiki sets down your personal pizza in front of you with a glass of water. It smells heavenly. “You never smile like that.”

“Uh,” You reply, caught off-guard, and set your phone down. “Was just replying to something funny Steven said.”

_ “Sure.” _ She says in a tone that screams ‘I don’t believe you whatsoever but okay’.

You reach out for a slice of pizza and take a bite, cheese almost dripping all over the lesson plans in front of you. Kiki moves the papers aside for safekeeping, and you mutter out a quick thanks.

“So,” She starts, resting her chin on her hand. “You gonna enlighten me, or what?”

You finish chewing your slice of pizza, and grab another. And then you indulge her questions. All of them. 

She has a lot.

You leave out all the details of what happened between you and Spinel, you’re really not ready to have  _ those _ kinds of conversations yet. Dealing with Steven giving you shit for it has been more than enough to want it from anyone else, and you haven’t even told Lars about it - even though you told him you would whenever you finally confessed to her.

Also.. uh. You won’t lie. Between the both of you being pretty fucking busy almost right off the bat, you haven’t exactly, er.  _ Had _ the girlfriend conversation with Spinel yet. Other than that one night, people are  _ always _ around you two. You know you gotta just talk to her about it to clarify, but shit, you’re stupidly anxious about it. Part of your brain is literally screaming at you about being stupid about it, because  _ sure, _ you had the most nerve-wracking love confession of your life and you two boned and also she definitely said she felt the same way, but what if this is just real casual to her?

Oh my god, you over-think fucking everything. Get it together.

You think not seeing her for two days in-person might be driving you nuts, a little.

"Lars didn't really tell me anything about Spinel. He gave me the jist of it, but told me to ask you for everything else whenever you seemed okay with it." She lets out a long breath, and you watch her eyes focus on you. "Imagine what would've happened if you weren't there with him that day. Do you think she would've killed him?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Honestly? She definitely had the strength to, but it doesn't really matter to me now. She wouldn't harm a hair on anyone's head." You reply, trying to not mull over the Spinel you experienced when you first met. 

"You seem to have full faith in her." She states, a small smile forming on her face. "You didn't treat any of the other gems that tried killing Steven with any kindness for at least a month. You're less forgiving than  _ Pearl." _

"I spent a month with her alone on a planet, Kiki. I had to learn how to work with her, and she saved my life." You retort.

"Yeah, only cause you put yourself in danger for her." She narrows her eyes at you. “And you’re moving in with her today?” Kiki asks, expression a bit suspicious, smile still on her face. This makes you uneasy.

“Yeah?” You reply, confused. “It’s not that weird, is it? I moved in with Steven fairly quickly.”

“Yeah, except that was a different type of situation, you were a guardian for him. And this is  _ you _ we’re talking about here.” She levels you with a look. “I feel like I’m missing something you’re not telling me. Like a key part to all of this.”

“L-like what?” You shove another slice of pizza into your mouth to shut yourself up. Not fucking today, dammit. Not today.

“I dunno, there’s just something..” She trails off, her eyebrows drawn together on her forehead as if she’s got a thought within her grasp. She looks at your hand, grasping your phone, squinting her eyes. She then shakes her head. “Whatever, you’ll tell me eventually. It’s not as if you’re  _ sleeping _ with her.”

You choke on the slice of pizza you’re currently chewing, and violently so.

Kiki’s eyes go wide, and you put a hand up as if you can stop whatever thoughts are racing through her head. Her jaw drops.

“Wait,” You manage to choke out, gasping for air and finding it very difficult. You can't tell if you can feel your face going red from the lack of air, or from this conversation.

_ “Y/N.” _ Is all she says, voice dripping incredulously. “Y/N!” 

“Kiki, you have the wrong idea-”

“I  _ cannot _ believe you.” She says, mouth still open. She’s got half a grin on her face like she’s just unearthed the most juicy gossip, and you are SO not here for this. "Wait until  _ Jenny _ hears about this."

_ "Kiki!"  _ You wail, and sputter out another cough. "Kiki you can't tell anyone!"

"Why not!?" She cackles. "And besides, I don't even know if she'd believe me anyway.  _ Y/N _ of all people?!"

"Tell her, and I'll tell Sadie you had a crush on her for a year." You spit out in a panic.

"You  _ wouldn't!"  _ Kiki narrows her eyes at you, face of mock betrayal. 

"I would. Watch me." You state, grabbing your phone off the table pointedly.

"Okay okay! Sheesh." She puts her hands up in surrender. "So you gonna tell me the dirty deets or what?"

"No, I don't kiss and tell." You scowl at her, but she doesn't seem put off by it at all.

"Knowing you, that doesn't surprise me." She grabs your glass of water, taking a sip of it. You're not even annoyed. "Guess you and Greg have something in common."

She laughs at her own joke, and you can't help putting your face in your hands and groaning loudly and dramatically. It only makes her laugh harder.

"Shut uuuup." You sigh, grabbing the glass of water from her and taking your own sip. 

The two of you talk for awhile as she grills you about Spinel, and you share what you're comfortable with. Eventually, she gets a family of customers in that she has to attend to, and you busy yourself with what you had come here originally to do.

Time passes and you lose track a bit, until your phone vibrates on the table and shakes you out of your concentration. 

It's a couple texts from Spinel.

[17:04] Spinel: it'll be a while until I'm free

[17:04] Spinel: there were some ISSUES apparently

You stare at your phone. You try not to be irritated at the situation.

It's not like you haven't seen her in a hot minute or anything. You weren't eager at all to be able to see her face or hear her voice. You sigh, and text her back.

[17:05] Y/N: It's fine.

You stare at your phone for a little bit, but she seems busy enough to not have the chance to respond quickly.

Fuck it, it's not like you have anything else to do. You're tired of the papers and notes in front of you. Might as well make your way over to little Homeworld and wait for Spinel to be free from Peridot's tiny demon hands.

You pack up, and make sure to say your goodbyes to Kiki, who yells at you to text her as you leave the shop. 

It doesn’t take you that long to get to little homeworld, and thankfully you know where Peridot is usually working as of late. 

You pass by the town center, and the glass in some of the taller buildings glare in the evening sun. There's quite a few gems around, working and building, many conversing with each other. There's a couple humans intermingled with them as well. The general atmosphere is pretty lovely here. You like it.

A Rose Quartz bumps into you on the sidewalk and your bag flies off your shoulder, spilling the contents onto the ground.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" She spins around, arms out to make sure she didn't shove you off of the sidewalk as well. "I'm just  _ so _ clumsy." She says, pushing her long pink hair over her shoulder and grabbing for your things on the ground before you can even think to scoop them up yourself.

"It's okay, I wasn't exactly paying attention either." You reply, grabbing the papers that flew out of your bag and onto the street. Thankfully, nothing's damaged. She hands you your stuff, and you place it back into your bag. "Thanks."

"It was mostly my fault anyway." She grins lazily, and you watch her eyes wander around the area of your face where you have that scar. "Hmm, I feel like I've seen your face around here before. You hang out with Steven?" 

"You could say that." You smile back at her and shoulder your bag. She's got this way about her that makes you think she's analyzing you, but not out of judgement. "Why?"

"No reason! I'll see  _ you _ around, cutie." She says with a sly grin and a wink, and you're standing there feeling completely taken aback. Your face heats up a little in embarrassment. That was.. okay. Whatever the hell  _ that _ was.

You keep walking, mind wandering as you try to figure out what the hell that gem's deal was.

You manage to spot Bismuth near a building with more scaffolding than anything else, and she's huddled with Peridot, Lapis, a couple quartz, and Spinel. You won't lie to yourself when your heart does a little summersault in your chest when you spot her magenta twintails.

They're talking loudly and animatedly about something you can't manage to hear from this distance, and you don't bother to get any closer. You duck into the entryway of a nearby building less than a hundred feet in distance from them just to linger for a moment. 

One of the Quartz says something, and they all erupt into laughter, and your eyes are trained on no one but Spinel. There’s something about watching her like this that makes your heart swell, and you feel a bit ridiculous over it. You feel your phone buzz in your pocket, and you tear your eyes away to check it.

It's a message from Steven.

[17:37] Steven: can I ask you for a favor? It's not work related.

[17:37] Steven: Connie's parents invited me to dinner

[17:37] Steven: hELP

You stare at your phone, feeling your face break out into a grin. Someone tries to get into the shop you're standing in front of, so you side step to move out of the way momentarily.

[17:38] Y/N: Haha oh buddy.

You look up after sending the message just to make sure you're in no one's way, and you happen to see Spinel just as she's turning her head in your direction, aaaaaand she's spotted you.

Her face brightens up immediately. 

She says something to the others, and most of them turn their faces to peer at you. Your face heats up, and one of them cracks some kind of joke that makes half the others howl in laughter as one of the Quartz slaps Spinel's back in jest. 

What the fuck are they saying?!

She manages to disengage herself, waving a couple loud goodbyes as the others let her go. It sounds like they make another joke at her expense, they all laugh as she runs to catch up to where you're waiting for her.

She groans as she reaches you, bringing her gloved hand up to her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun. 

"What the hell did you say to them?!" Is what comes out of your mouth instead of a greeting. You glare at the others, and you can’t tell if they can see your expressions, but they sure are howling with laughter. 

"Well  _ hello to you too," _ She replies, cheekily scratching the back of her head. “And I didn't say a  _ word! _ They just.. kinda figured it out?” She says sheepishly, cheeks coloring a bit. “Guess I talk about 'ya a lot, eheheh..”

Oh my god, ugh. You think you're going to have a heart attack, probably. She's looking at you like she’s holding back a lot of affection. Probably for your sake? 

One of them catcalls at the two of you, and you hear another whistling. You feel your eye twitching, but the smile doesn't leave your face.

"No, really, what'd you tell them?" 

"That you're my  _ girlfriend, _ you idiot, because they basically knew that already." She retorts with a roll of her eyes. She grabs your hand, and you feel your face heat up even more. "Let's get 'outta here already."

Well. That answers all your insecurities. 

You look forward to the next upcoming days.


	2. Two

The door in front of you is red.

The two of you are standing outside the entrance to, er, what the both of you will now be calling  _ home. _ It’s.. a strange feeling. You’re excited to be here. And although you’re eternally grateful for the crystal gems for taking you in when you needed it, you’re also happy to be starting a new chapter in your life. 

Pearl should’ve had the last three of your boxes brought up already for you, as you didn’t really feel like doing that all yourself all the way up to the 9th floor if you’re honest with yourself. Your body is still pretty sore in general, especially your legs.

You watch Spinel pull keys out of her pocket and go for the door. 

"Why weren't those in your gem?" You ask as she fumbles with said keys in hand. "I didn't even know you had pockets.."

"Sometimes I forget." She furrows her eyebrows, a bit of her tongue peeking out as she squints, trying to get the key into the deadbolt right. It's kind of comical. "Don't act like you're expecting me to lose 'em already."

"Eh." You shrug, and watch her struggle for a couple more seconds. "Did you want help with that, orrrr,"-

She opens the door, interrupting your sentence with an enthusiastic whoop, and you can see the formidable stack of boxes in the small living room. You take one last look at the long sprawling hallway and the many, many doors on this floor and wonder what your neighbors are like.

"Are 'ya gonna just stand out there or what?" She says from inside the doorway. Looking a bit further down the hall, you can see that one of the doors has several strange notes taped to it - as if there's some sort of weird neighborly interaction going on there.

One of the other front doors opens just as Spinel wraps her hand around your wrist, and she nearly  _ yanks _ you into the apartment. She slams the door shut behind you almost forcefully.

"You're not even gonna let me introduce myself to the neighbors?" You say, like you had any intention other than to snoop a little. Spinel fixes you with a look. It makes you feel a little giddy when she looks at you like she’s full of impatient affection, which makes you want to be a little obtuse on purpose.

"You can do that  _ later." _ She folds her arms in slight irritation that you can definitely see in her eyes. "I've been wanting you alone for what feels like  _ weeks _ now."

"You're a little dramatic," You walk further into the living room, taking note of the small deck outside the sliding glass doors. "It's only been a few days, and we've texted."

“I’m not, and you and I  _ both _ know that it ‘ain’t the same.” She says from behind you, following you closely. You’re pretending you have no idea what she’s talking about.

You take a peek inside the small kitchen, and you love it. It’s cute. Gems don’t need to eat or store food, but these particular apartments have small amenities in place, as well as a bathroom and bedroom just to keep up with building code. You think it’s kind of hilarious that regular city ordinance gets a say in how aliens should build things, and you kind of wish you were present for the meetings that Bismuth had to have had with them.

You open the fridge, and realize nothing is in there. Oh, right. Of course. You don’t know what you were expecting.

Closing the fridge door, you feel a presence next to you and turn to realize that Spinel is RIGHT there. Like, maybe six inches from your face.

“What,” You say, feeling your heartbeat pick up a little. She’s watching you expectantly, as if she’s waiting for something. “Am I not allowed to check out our place? You’ve already been here for the last few days.”

She takes a half step closer, and grabs your face with the both of her hands to kiss you.

Ah. 

Her lips are soft. 

You won’t lie, you’ve been thinking about her like this on a constant feedback loop ever since the both of you confessed your feelings. 

You exhale out your nose and tilt your head enough to deepen the kiss, and she hums against your lips. She slides down one of her hands to the small of your back, and presses you flush against her, almost possessively. Your face heats up a little at the lack of space between you two.

Your phone dings twice in your pocket, and Spinel makes some kind of displeased sigh against your mouth as if you were even going to answer it. One of your hands finds its way to the side of her face, and you trail it over to the edges of her hairline just to touch more of her. She leans into it automatically. Her hair is soft to the touch, and you wish you could run your fingers through it. 

The hand on your back is searingly hot through the shirt you're wearing, and you can only focus on that and the sensation of her lips on yours.

Your phone dings three more times, and Spinel  _ growls _ impatiently, and well,  _ that _ certainly doesn’t do anything to you, no sir.

She pushes you against the fridge, and you’re extremely embarrassed about the groan that comes out of your mouth - she doesn’t seem to care because she’s kissing you a  _ lot _ more forcefully now. It’s like she can’t keep her hands off you. 

“Spinel,” You pull away to breathe, lips wet. She goes right for your neck.

_ “What?”  _ She hisses against your skin, and you shudder. A gloved hand slides up your shirt.

“I should probably run to the store for a grocery trip before it closes, there’s no food here and I’d like to eat this week.”

She pulls her mouth away from your skin, and your neck feels a little exposed.

“Can’t we do that tomorrow?” She sighs, giving you another look.

“If I wanna starve tonight, sure.” You reply, deadpan. It's not like you  _ actually _ want this to stop..

“Uggghhhhhhhhhh FINE.” She rolls her eyes, and removes herself from you like it’s the worst thing to ever happen to her. “But we’re continuin’ this later.”

“You mean  _ I’M _ continuing this later,” You poke her right in the gem, and she glares at you. Her cheeks tint a darker pink, and you find yourself grinning. “If I have anything to say about it, anyway.”

“Is that a challenge?” She replies, lowering her eyes at you in a way that makes the little hairs on your neck stand up. 

“Maaaaaybe.” You side step her, walking back towards the living room before you decide that actually yeah, maybe fucking her in the kitchen is a  _ great _ idea right now. 

“I hate the tone you’re using.” 

“Why, does it make you nervous?” You open one of your boxes of clothes, looking for a sweater to wear out. A specific one. The one with the strawberries on the front. 

“No, you’re just smug.” She says, and you bark out a laugh.

You can’t find the sweater you want, which means you put it in a non-clothing box, or you left it at Steven’s. Ugh. Actually most of the clothes you’re rifling through kind of smell weird even though they should be clean. You shrug, coming to the conclusion you’ll also have to do laundry tonight.

“Do we have a washing machine?” You ask her. She looks at you a little confused.

“A what?”

“Y’know, like for washing my clothes. These smell funky and I’d like to wear  _ something _ tomorrow.” You open one of your regular boxes, but it’s just filled with books. Many, many books.

“Oh! Yeah, Bis mentioned something about there bein’ one on the first floor. Although, I wouldn’t exactly mind ‘ya not wearing anything tomorrow.” She grins, canines shining in the low light of the apartment. 

“I’m not walking around naked, idiot.” You sigh at her, trying to keep your blush at bay. She’s so blunt with her affections now that you don’t really know how to deal with it. “Let’s just go to the store and get it over with.”

You grab your bag, making sure you have your wallet on you, and the both of you head out the door.

Spinel locks the door behind you, and the both of you make your way back down to the base level via elevator.

-

There’s a nearby market that’s still open for the next two hours, and the two of you end up walking there as it’s only a couple of blocks away. 

You look over at the neon sign saying ‘Open’ with the hours listed, and can see quite a few people and gems inside. Eugh. You were kind of hoping it wouldn’t be busy at like, 7pm, but here we are.

“I hope this won't take too long,” You head inside, Spinel trailing next to you. “I don’t even think you have toilet paper, so I’m gonna have to get quite a few things.”

“Toilet paper?” 

“Exactly my point.” You look around, seeing the cash registers at the front and the produce section immediately to your right. It’s.. a little loud in here.

Spinel is looking around in curious wonder, staring pretty hard at some of the sale display signs with obnoxious print.

You grab one of the carts off to the side, and make a beeline directly for the toiletries section, because you don't want to forget anything like you usually do.

"Hey! Don't leave me behind," You feel a hand grab yours, Spinel jogging briefly to catch up with you. "Why are 'ya being so fast? We've got time."

"Sorry, stores make me a little anxious when they have quite a few people in them," You narrowly avoid a few teenagers joking loudly and passing next to you. "I hate busy places."

"They ain't  _ so _ bad. It's kinda lively." She replies, squeezing your hand. 

You pass four different aisles until you get to the one you're aiming for, having to maneuver around a couple gems that are in the way. You catch one of them looking pointedly to the hand you're holding with Spinel, and you try to ignore the way it makes your stomach lurch a little. 

You hate shopping.

You stop your cart in the toothbrush area, because you might as well get a new one as well as some toothpaste.

"Ooooooooh." Spinel reaches out beside you, grabbing one of those sonic kids brushes with all the lights. "What does  _ this _ do?"

You grab what you need, throwing it in your cart and looking at your girlfriend  _ (even just referring to her like this inside your head makes you unbelievably giddy) _ who's.. intensely studying the characters on the toothbrush. She presses the button in the middle, and the whole thing lights up and starts playing music. Her eyes go wide.

"Is this some 'kinda torture device?" She pokes the spinning bristles, eyebrows shooting up inquisitively. She then presses it against her face, and her reaction to it is immediate unpleasantness, and you laugh at her.

"It just cleans your teeth, weirdo." You grab it from her, turning the annoying music off and placing it back onto the shelf. "Although, I bet I could find a way to torture someone with it."

"Let's test it on Peridot." She grins, eyes a little gleeful.

"Do you  _ really _ want to try her? See what she's capable of?" You ask her, trying to stifle your laughter.

"Oh, jeez, 'ya probably right. Pretty sure she'd tie me to a chair and make me watch reruns with her." She answers disdainfully. “Maybe Lapis, then.”

“If you want to drown, sure.”

She continues to peer at the many kid’s toothbrushes on this shelf, and you walk a couple feet over to grab shower supplies. You toss a couple more objects into your cart, nabbing a pack of toilet paper as well and tossing it in.

“What’s this?” You hear her ask, and when you turn to glance at her she’s got a bottle in her hand. It looks like some ibuprofen or tylenol.

“Painkillers. Toss that in the cart will you?”

“It.. kills pain?” She stares at the bottle. “Why do humans need doctors if they have this?”

“They only temporarily ease pain. Mainly for headaches and a sore back and stuff.”

“You meatbags come up with some weird stuff, there’s so many different types..” She grabs another couple bottles, squinting at them and them placing them back on the shelf.

“Yeah, well us  _ meatbags _ had to create solutions to make our lives a little less awful.” You roll your eyes at her terminology. “Not that I’d expect a fucking rock to understand.”

“A fucking  _ rock,” _ Her mouth is agape in offence, and she crosses her arms in a huff. It’s so fucking cute. “At least I don’t gotta  _ eat.” _

“You could. I bet you’d liiiiiike it.” 

“Yeah I’m ‘gonna pass on that one.” She scrunches her nose, as if the thought is wholly unappealing. You want to laugh.

“You liked sex.” You say bluntly, giving her a knowing look. She sputters, cheeks turning a much darker shade of pink.

“Shut upppppp! We’re in public, Y/N!” She glares at you, and you can’t stop yourself from grinning. 

A couple turns their cart into the aisle you’re in, and you decide to say nothing further.. For now.

You push your cart out of the aisle, Spinel instantly grabbing for your hand again. You like that she just does it whenever she wants to. 

You’re in the refrigeration section, and there’s a couple people here much to your displeasure. Some lady is loudly talking on the phone with one of her kids on speaker, and you glare a couple daggers her way even if she can’t see it.

Side-stepping a gem, you grab a block of cheese and some butter and you’re looking at the eggs when Spinel scoots right up to your side. She places her chin on your shoulder, and watches you open a carton to check the contents. The gesture has your heart doing a couple flips inside your ribcage.

“What ‘cha doooooin?” She inquires quite cutely, and you realize this probably looks weird to her.

“Trying to get a full, non cracked container of eggs.” You state. She grabs one from the open container you’re looking at. “Careful, only the outside is hard. The inside is kinda fluid-like.”

She squints at it in her palm. “That sounds disgusting. You eat these things like this? ‘Aint that crunchy?”

“You don’t eat it raw, normally.” You shoot her a quick look, and she’s looking at the egg like its existence disturbs her. “Most people cook them or add them to other things for consistency. Stop being so judgemental.”

“I’m not being judgemental..” She mutters, placing the egg back into your carton. This one’s got an egg that looks like it’s about to crack so you decide to put it back on the shelf. The woman talking on the phone near you howls out a laugh. “That lady sure is ‘annoying.” Her breath tickles your neck, and you hold back a shudder. 

“Yeah, I hate people like her. It’s fucking rude honestly.” You mutter back, grabbing a different carton. The last three had eggs missing, weirdly enough. Are people just taking single eggs and sticking them in their pockets? “Like how hard is it to just place it against your ear? Why do the rest of us give a shit about what you’re eating for brunch tomorrow?”   
  
Spinel chuckles, vibrating against your shoulder. “I ever tell ‘ya that you’re amusing?”

“No, but I’ll remember that next time you call me unfunny.” This carton has all eggs intact inside, so you place it gently into your cart. 

“Psssshhh.” She replies, and you move over to grab a half gallon of milk. You open the door to where all the milk is refrigerated, and Spinel makes a weird noise of disgust. “What the fuck is that? Why’s it  _ white?” _

“It’s just milk.” You give her a look. “And it’s white because of the proteins, chill. It comes from cows.” You point to the cow on the carton of 2% you’re buying. “Fucking judgey-ass gems..”

“That  _ animal _ is in there??” She makes a face. “You guys are so weird.”

“No, idiot,” You laugh, trying to not lose your shit at her conclusions. You point to the udder. “They produce it, it’s not their flesh. Humans can do it too..”

“Can  _ you _ do it?” She stares at you strangely.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” You say, not wanting at all to elaborate on this and she barks out a laugh. You put the milk in the cart.

You’re in the bread aisle trying to figure out what kind of bagels you want, and Spinel is.. deeply studying the colorful bag clips hanging off the display strip on the side. You hear her grabbing the package and snapping the clips like crab claws, and you can’t help but snicker a little to yourself. 

She doesn’t seem to notice when you wander off to the other short bread aisle, because there's a few more options here that you want to look at. You missed bread so much that you’re feeling like you could eat all of them.. So you grab three different kinds to toss in the cart.

“Y/N?” You hear shuffling from the other aisle, and the rising panic in Spinel’s tone. “Where’d you go..?”

You walk back over to where you left her, and she looks slightly stressed out. She makes eye contact with you and visibly relaxes immediately.

“Sorry, I was just grabbing something from the other side.” You say to her, and her hand shoots out to grab onto your arm. “I wasn’t going to leave you, if that’s what you’re worried about..”

You raise an eyebrow, and she rubs the back of her head, embarrassed.

“Sorry, I know it’s irrational.”

You move your hand to lace your fingers with hers in comfort, palm fitting nicely against it. She seems a little taken aback with your gesture, but she doesn’t say anything by it.

“It’s not irrational.” You squeeze her hand, and seeing no one else around you, you lean in to give her a kiss on the cheek. 

“Y/N!” She hisses, looking around the aisle frantically as a small blush forms on her face. She places her other hand against where you kissed, like it’s somehow sacred. “In  _ public?!” _

“It’s not like there’s anyone around to see,” You can’t help the grin forming on your face. The lines on her cheeks look a little bolder with how flustered she is, and honestly? If you could pepper her face in kisses right now, you would. You’ve got this overwhelming amount of affection you’d like to give her, with nowhere to put it. Not until later, anyway. “God, you should see your face. It’s cute.”

“Will ‘ya  _ shut up?!” _ She pointedly looks away from you, and you laugh. “I’m not  _ cute.” _

“I’ve got loads of proof that you are, but okay.” You give her hip a little bump, and her face looks back to yours to shoot out a glare that you’re not intimidated by in the least.

“Yeah, like  _ what.” _

“You know..” You trail off, and lean in close to the side of her face. You whisper something to her about the other morning, and she chokes, face going completely red. 

“I’m going to KILL you one of these days, Y/N.” She retorts, avoiding your eyes on purpose. You give her another nudge, and you can see her try desperately to stop the grin forming on her face.

“Let me at least finish shopping,” You reply, grabbing your cart to swing around to get a few more things on your mental list.

It doesn’t take that long to get the other staples you need, and before you know it you’re standing in line at checkout. You start placing your items on the belt once the other customer is finally paying, and you watch Spinel as she hilariously just tosses the items out of the cart and onto the conveyor. Ahhhhhh yeah you knew she wasn’t exactly graceful, but still.

“You find everything you need?” The cashier makes small talk with you, as you see her eyebrow raise at Spinel’s heart-shaped gem. Said gem seems utterly fascinated by the clerk’s bagging speed. 

“Yeah.” You politely answer, grabbing for your wallet as you watch the total rise. You maybe need another job, ugh..

Spinel raises an eyebrow and looks like she's about to say something asinine, so you step on her foot lightly to shut her up.

She yelps a little, and glares at you. You stifle a snicker, finishing the transaction so you two can get out of here. 

Once you're done, Spinel makes the effort of just placing the bags of groceries inside her gem conveniently, so you don't have to carry anything the short distance home. 

-

You don't give yourself the chance to relax much though because as soon as you get home and the groceries are put away, you've left Spinel to unpack your stuff as you go do a quick load of laundry.

The elevator dings and you're on the first floor again, hamper in hand. Opening the door to the communal washing room, you see several units here. There’s no one else around, and you’re  _ so _ glad for that, honestly. Now you can look at memes in peace.

You fit all your clothes in one load thankfully, and you lean against the machine in wait after you fill what you need with soap. The wash cycle shouldn’t take too long, and you’ll go back upstairs briefly to help your girlfriend after you leave it on the drying cycle. You’re maybe in here alone for five minutes when a man and a giant basket of laundry comes in grunting. It’s another human.. You try not to stare too much.

“So, you live here?” He turns to say to you after dumping half his clothes in the machine in front of him. Of course he’s chatty.

“Yeah. Just moved in today.”

“Sweet, another human here! Now I won’t have to feel so alone.” He replies, swiping his brow lightly. He’s a bit older than you with some dark facial hair, and you don’t know how to say this.. He’s just extremely nonthreatening. “I live up on the 5th floor! Convenient for me since I work nearby, and the rent is so cheap..”

“How long have you lived here?” You ask, typing out a reply to Steven’s messages from earlier.

“A few months. It’s not as quiet as I hoped, gems are a bit on the wild side sometimes but everyone’s friendly!” He grins, pouring soap into his machine. “My boyfriend thinks it’s too loud, but he doesn’t pay the rent so he can’t complain. You live here alone?”

A boyfriend, huh? Maybe you can be friends with this guy.

“Nah, I moved in with my girlfriend.” You state, and the man just kinda stares at you for a moment, as he’s putting two and two together, realizing you’re the only two humans in the building.

“Are you dating a gem?” He asks a little apprehensively, and while you think you might be a little offended if someone else asked this way, the look on his face makes it obvious that he’s just extremely curious. “What’s  _ that _ like?”

“Yes, and uh.” You stop, not knowing exactly how to answer, and the man barks out a laugh at the look on your face.

“You’re the only human I’ve ever met that’s dated a gem. I’m so telling my boyfriend, he’ll freak. He might have a buttload of questions for you next time I see you. Name’s George, by the way.” He holds out his hand in greeting.

“Y/N.” You take his hand to shake it, and the two of you talk for a little while as he asks you a few probing questions.

After ten minutes or so, your load is done and you put it in the dryer, saying your goodbyes to your new human neighbor.

On your way back upstairs, you manage to bump into a gem right as you turn to the hallway into your apartment.

“Oh! Pardon  _ me,” _ The gem apologises, looking up from their cell phone.

It’s that same Rose Quartz from earlier.

“It’s  _ you!” _ She says, slightly taken aback, but nonetheless pleased. “What do you happen to be doing here?”

“I live here.” You give her a small smile, and you notice her eyeing you up. Uh.

“That makes  _ me  _ very happy to hear.” She says in a way that kind of makes you a little nervous? 

“Well, it’s nice bumping into you here, I’ll see you around!” You make quick for your door, and she watches you the entire time, smile on her face. 

It gives you a bit of the heebie jeebies.

You slam the door behind you, and Spinel’s excited face greeting you immediately puts you at ease.


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah hi theres smut in here, this is your warning incase you hate shit like that
> 
> love ya'll, hope ur all doing ok during these tryin' times
> 
> edit: came to my attention on tumblr that a few people were uncomfortable as to how i worded a few things in here during the sex scene - wasn't intentional, and im sorry for that. i will always be appreciative of my readers. thank you for taking your time in telling me that. anyway i clarified a few things, and added in another thousand or so words to this chapter, hope it flows better, and again, thanks for the feedback

"Why do 'ya seem a little out of breath? You run up the stairs?" Your girlfriend asks, raising an eyebrow.

"No reason," You lie, she doesn't need to know of whatever that was. It was probably nothing, anyway. You're just paranoid. "Met another human that lives a few floors down from us though."

"Another human lives here? Huh," She answers, interested. She's got half your boxes open, and has already stacked most of the books inside your bookcase in the living room. It's.. it's stacked like a fire hazard. You don't know what you were expecting. "Bismuth did say that more humans were starting to live in this area. Was he nice?"

"Yeah, he did ask me a lot of questions about you though."

She gives you a particular look. "Why'd he ask about me.."

"I might've mentioned I was living with my girlfriend." You say sheepishly.

"Aw jeez," She groans, wiping her face a bit dramatically with her gloved hand. 

"Am I supposed to keep quiet about it?"

"No! No. I just haven't had the chance to tell any of our neighbors about it yet." She replies guiltily. She pushes a twintail over her shoulder, getting it out of the way as she digs into an open box.

_ "Spinel!" _ You hiss out.

"What! I've been busy!" She wails. "And also, two of the quartzes on this floor are such  _ huge _ gossips that I've maybe avoided the conversation with them! They've pried SO much already about my past and it's kinda 'irritatin. I know once they figure out that you're livin' with me, they're gonna bombard me with even more questions."

"Ugh, okay, you get a pass today."

_ "Today,"  _ She repeats, deadpan. "I should get a pass whenever."

"Nah, you're not special enough." You chuckle, grabbing some of your books to restack them into something actually resembling a bookcase.

"I am to  _ you," _ She pouts a little, which is really endearing. 

_ "Ehhhhhhh," _ You start, sarcastically, until you feel a pinch on your ass and you cut off mid sentence to yelp. You whip your head around to glare at your girlfriend. "Spinel!"

"Deserved it." She grins, peering at you from the side. You contemplate throwing a book at her, but your stomach rumbles instead.

"Can you finish opening all of these boxes? I'm gonna make myself some food real quick," You say, finishing restacking that one shelf and walking into the kitchen. "I wanna be completely unpacked tonight if possible. I hate moving for this reason."

You hear her make an offended noise from the living room. "Was how I stacked these not  _ good _ enough for you?!"

"I hate to break this to you, but like," You pause to open your fridge, rifling through what you bought earlier. "Pretty sure they were one bump away from being all over the floor."

"Looked fine to me."

"Have you ever had to organize anything, ever?" You take the ingredients out to make a sandwich, plopping the contents on the counter.

"..I think I'm more of the fun type, personally." She answers, and you hear her toss an empty box off to the side. You feel your phone buzz in your pocket, and opt to ignore it for a little bit while you feed yourself.

"Yeah? You think so?" You snicker, adding an extra slice of cheese to your ham sandwich. "I thought you were more of the  _ 'village idiot' _ type."

She sputters, and you walk out of the kitchen with your sandwich in hand to see her glaring at you non-threateningly. "That's more of a  _ you _ type."

"No way! You don't even have any proof." You take a bite out of your food in hand, watching her pull out some of your cute plushies that Steven has gifted you over the years. Sandwich is a bit dry.. shoulda put on more mayo. Oh well.

"Are 'ya fuckin' kidding me?" She stares at you, deadpan. Her left eye is twitching. "Why don't we revisit everything that happened on Golgotha?  _ Hmmmmm?" _

"Okay that's not completely fair," You take another bite, and chew it thoughtfully. "It's not like I  _ asked _ for that to happen to me. It was all self preservation. Besides, it's not like you made it easy."

She opens her mouth to retort with something just as an arm comes out of your hair - she screams, making you drop your sandwich.

_ "W-WHAT IS THAT!?" _

You grab the arm, and yank Steven out of the portal he's created through your hair. He tumbles to the floor, groaning and rubbing his butt.

"You could just, like, I don't know,  _ knock?!" _ You hiss out at him, patting the side of your head. That was.. uh. That felt weird.

"Maybe you should read your texts sometime!" He groans, flopping on the floor, arms out. "My poor back.."

"My fucking sandwich," You sigh, feeling sad for what could've been your life had you been able to eat the rest of it. "You owe me another one."

"I'll make you twenty if you help me not embarrass myself in front of Connie's mom again." 

"Deal." You grab his hand, helping lift him off the floor, and throw the rest of your destroyed sandwich into the garbage bin.

"Am I 'gonna get an explanation for that or are we ignoring it." Spinel says as she stares at the two of you like you've each grown another head. 

"Oh, he can just do that now that he pink’d me.” You answer quite bluntly, and Steven opens his mouth in offense.

“Don’t call it that! But she’s technically right.” He gives you a tired look, and it makes you feel a little gleeful that you can still get this kind of reaction out of him whenever you want. “I can do it with Lars too, but he’s taken to threatening me whenever I do it now.”

“You interrupt him in the bathroom again?” You grin at him, and his cheeks color slightly.

“No!” He says all too quickly. 

“Wait,” Spinel lowers her eyes to you, getting a strange expression on her face. She walks closer to you. “He can do that just whenever?” 

“Yeah, I mean, I’m  _ sure _ he’ll ask beforehand, but yes,” You reply to her, watching as she lifts a hand to your head. “What’re you-”

“-does that mean _ I  _ can?” She jabs the side of your head with her gloved hand without waiting for an answer - you slap her hand away as Steven laughs.

“No,” You sigh, Spinel only looking a little put out. “Steven’s the only gem who can. That would be a nightmare otherwise.”

“Anyway, I also came over to give you an update.” Steven clears his throat.

“For what?” You ask, now concerned. “Couldn’t you have just texted?”

“What, so you can just not look at it or text me back?” He shoots a pointed look at you, and you only feel a little bit guilty. “No, I needed to change your schedule specifically to fit around two others, so your first lesson got moved up to a bigger slot. It’s tomorrow. I’m sorry for the short notice.”

You stare at him, unsure of what to say.

“If you’re not ready, I can have Pearl take over for the time being-”

“-No! No. It’s fine, I just needed to mentally adjust to it.” You shake your head vigorously, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. You feel the anxiety swirling in your gut, but you manage to push most of it down for now. “I’m basically done with all my prep for it, anyway.”

“Only if you’re sure, Y/N.” He looks at you like he’s waiting for your face to betray you of something, but you ignore it. “Because you can talk to me if you’re-”

“It’s fine, Steven.” You cut him off. “You worry too much. Besides, you’ve got bigger things on your plate. Y’know, like Mrs. Maheswaran’s divine judgement.”

“Ugggggghhh, thanks for the reminder.” He wipes his hand down his face dramatically. “She wants me to come over for dinner this weekend so she can talk to the two of us about something. I’m not even sure what.”

“Buddy, you  _ know _ she’s gonna grill you about your future.” You reply, and peer into the open box to the left of you. It’s full of kitchen supplies.

“That’s guaranteed.” He sighs, grabbing some of the items from you and putting them away. Of course he’s helping without any kind of prompt. “I don’t mind it, but I’d like a  _ single _ dinner with them where I’m not feeling like I’m putting on some kind of performance.”

Your anxiety is still at the forefront of your mind.

“It can’t be  _ that _ bad.” Spinel turns to him, breaking down the empty box in her hand. 

“You’ve never met Mrs. Maheswaran.” He retorts, placing your tea infusers into the silverware drawer and shutting it with a  _ clank.  _ “You have no idea what it feels like to talk to her. Sure she’s nice, but it’s like she’s always watching you under a little microscope..”

Spinel gives him some kind of snide response and snickers, and you hear Steven chuckle and holler out something in reply to that - but you had somehow tuned out the words as you opened the box to your bathroom supplies. 

“Give me a few, I’m gonna put all these away real quick,” You manage to say to them before ducking into the bathroom, neither of them seeming to notice your brief change in mood as you leave the door three-quarters closed.

You can still hear them making jabs at each other while Steven talks to Spinel about all the pressure Connie’s mom has put him under the last few years, and you set your box down on the toilet.

Uggghhh, okay. You can deal with this. You have no idea why something as simple as moving a lesson up two days is fucking you up this much, but you’re gonna have to deal with it anyway. Why the fuck are you so nervous? You’ve dealt with worse. You have your lessons ready - they’re basic things anyway. It’s easy. Sure, there’s a big crowd for attendance which is a little unheard of, but maybe more gems want to befriend and understand humans than you had previously considered.

You grab your box of hair ties and scrunchies, and shove them under the sink. You don’t need extras right now. You can still feel the anxiety there, under your skin. You pick up your blow dryer and straightener, placing those down as well. Why did Steven seem like he was expecting you to back out?

Does he think you’re incapable of handling this? Is this some kind of test?

You pull out your phone to text Amethyst.

[21:42] Y/N: Quick question.

[21:42] Y/N: You think I’m capable of teaching those classes?

You set your phone down after hitting send, and grab all your soaps to put away as you wait for a reply. Spinel’s voice rings out from the living room, and you focus on the sound of it for the time being. You reach into the box again, and pull out all your hair dye supplies from a while ago.

Huh. 

You turn the container of bleach around in your hand.

You stare at yourself in the mirror, and try not to wince at the reflection. You probably couldn’t.. right? You don’t think that your hair would take any kind of bleach or dye now. The utter irony is that you’ve experimented with every single other color for your hair before this, claiming you would never try pink to Steven.. and now it’s.. permanent. 

Your phone buzzes on the counter. You pick it up.

[21:44] Amethyst: uhh.. yeah?

[21:44] Amethyst: the fuck you asking for?

Okay, well. Now you just seem paranoid.

[21:44] Y/N: No reason..

Your fingers are hovering over the keyboard, and as you’re figuring out what to continue to type, she shoots a text back nearly instantly.

[21:45] Amethyst: :/

You put your phone back into your pocket. You don’t really feel like asking what that face is for, because you think you know the answer.

You finish putting away the remnants of what was left in the box, and walk back out into the living room where Steven and Spinel are now talking about how he met Connie. You throw your empty box off to the side, and look at all the stuff you have left to unpack on the floor. It’s not much left, you’re well over two-thirds done at this point, and ohhhhhhhhhhh you forgot about your laundry.

You let the other two know that you’ll be back in a few - Spinel shoots you a look that you ignore, and you head downstairs.

Your mind wanders nervously the entire way down, and the laundry room is empty when you arrive to get your clothes. Amethyst texts you again, asking you if you're okay, and you shoot her a quick  _ 'yup just peachy'. _ You get your dry clothes, placing them into your hamper, and you scurry back to your floor to avoid any weird confrontations.

When you get back inside, you manage to catch the tail end of a quiet mutter from Steven to Spinel before he quickly runs his sentence into something else, and at an increased volume to avoid suspicion. You opt to pretend you didn't notice, and you easily slide back into the conversation as the three of you finish what you had set out tonight to accomplish.

Steven ends up leaving the normal way after you and him have a heavy discussion laying on your living room floor about his dinner problem, and he gives you an especially hard hug after letting you know he'll drop by after your lesson tomorrow to see how it goes with lunch that he now owes you.

The door in front of you closes with a click, and you lock it for the night. Not that you're expecting anyone to barge in, but force of habit. 

You're weirdly mentally exhausted. 

"I think I'm gonna take a shower. I feel kinda gross." Is what you hear coming out of your mouth, and you move to grab fresh laundry out of your pile that you left on the couch.

“I’m gonna try to finally figure out how to work this TV, then.” She replies, and you make your way into the bathroom, shutting the door behind you.

You place your clean clothes on the toilet lid as you turn the shower on, letting the room fill up with steam as you take off your clothes and kick them into the corner to deal with later. You don't really wanna take a shower in silence, so you opt to put some music on in the background.

You pull the curtain back, steam rolling out and hitting you directly in the face as you step inside the tub. It's so scaldingly hot that you barely manage to hold back a scream as you adjust the temp and stand away from the stream. 

After a couple seconds or so the water finally gets to a more reasonable temperature and you stand underneath it to let it soak you. It feels nice.

You look down to grab your shampoo, but instead see the gnarly scar on your stomach, and stop. You stare at it a while. The raised skin along the outer ring of where you basically got hole-punched feels weird. It's also a slightly darker pink than the rest of your skin, which you're still not really used to when you get a glimpse of yourself.

You remember the feeling of being pierced, and decide to stop thinking about this all together for now. 

You grab the shampoo bottle and pour some into your hand, rubbing it into your scalp. You feel your muscles relax.

The door to the bathroom opens and closes, and all of a sudden you hear the shower curtain being pulled back. 

"Do  _ you  _ MIND." You slap your arms around yourself self consciously, still having soap in your hair. You can't see shit but you know it's Spinel.

"Pfft, 'ya act like I've never seen you naked. Anyway, I just wanted to know how to turn on the TV? I can’t figure it out." She asks, letting the colder air of the bathroom in, and you can hear some water hitting the floor.

"Will you  _ close _ the curtain," You reach out, grabbing the edge of the vinyl liner, just as Spinel opens it wider to step inside with you. "- _ what _ the fuck are you doing?"

"Oh, the water’s warm? This doesn’t feel too bad," You rinse the rest of your shampoo out, just to see her fully clothed half a foot from you, hand reaching out to touch the stream of water. Your heart is beating wildly - but you find yourself at ease with her presence in here, oddly enough. She’s watching you curiously.

"What, you can't figure the TV out yourself? And you thought I took cold showers, really?!" You scoff at her, unfazed at this point by her antics. "The fact that you're in here with clothes on kinda says everything about you."

"I can take 'em  _ off." _ She says to you, like, duh Y/N, don't you even know me by now? You glare at her, which isn't hard since there's water being sprayed onto you and into your eyes, and she phases off her clothes, shoes and all in an instant. "Better?" She asks, like she’s doing  _ you _ a favor.

"Gems don't need to take showers." You deadpan at her. "And weren't you trying to figure out the TV?"

"Just because I don't  _ need _ to doesn't mean I can't. Also, I could help 'ya." She says cheekily, grinning a little.

"I don't need help bathing myself," You roll your eyes at her in jest, water starting to drench her hair. You think it’s really cute that she offers, but you’re sure she just wants a chance at messing around with you. Not that you’d really mind right now, and well.. you school your face into one that isn’t obvious to what you’re currently thinking about. You try not to focus too much on her gemstone in the middle of her chest, or her breasts, or those soft looking shoulders, or the rest of her naked expanse of skin - you need to stop before you get carried away. "..but I bet  _ you _ would."

“Are ‘ya saying I can’t figure out something as simple as bathing? Something I’ve watched you do? Wow. I’m hurt, Y/N.” She feigns offense, looking around at the bottles of soap and shampoo products you have in here, picking them up and starting at the labels.

“Then try it.” You watch her eye a bar of soap, and then pick it up with her wet hands. It almost shoots out of her hands at you, and she barely manages to keep it within her grip hilariously enough.

“See, I know what I’m doing,” She says stubbornly, bringing the bar up to her nose to smell it. She rubs a bit of the suds off, wiping it on her palm curiously. All of a sudden, you get a really good idea.

“Yeah, and if you actually did, you’d know that that’s what I use to clean the inside of my mouth.” You raise your eyebrows at her, begging your own face to not betray you. 

“Wait, really?!” Her eyes widen, giving you a slightly disturbed look. She peers at the soap, bringing it closer to her face. “I mean, it smells good and the shape is right..”

She licks it, and immediately gags. The look on her face of utter disgust is the best thing you’ve seen all week.

“AUUUUGH,” She wails, pushing her face into the water to scrape off the remaining soap, and the laugh that comes out of your mouth is so loud it echoes throughout the bathroom.  _ “Y/N!” _

“Gullible.” Is all you can say between laughs, and she musters a glare at you.

“I trusted you!”

“That was your mistake.” You retort with a grin. “I don’t eat soap. I’m surprised you believed that.”

“Never AGAIN.” She gags one more time, and you grab for your bottle of conditioner.

“Here, lemme show you.” You step outside of the constant stream of water, and trade places with Spinel. Once you’re done rubbing the conditioner into your own hair, you grab your shampoo for her. You look at her drenched in water, watching you closely. You won’t lie when it makes your heart flutter in your chest, and it feels a little like falling. “Can you take your hair down for this?”

“Oh, sure,” She makes quick work of undoing her hair, and yeah, you’re definitely staring at her now. You’re having a really hard time hiding it. Getting some shampoo in your hand, you have her step out of the water for a moment and start rubbing it into her scalp. She relaxes so much into your touch that you feel your heart start to beat a little faster. “Y/N?” 

“Hm?” You answer.

“You seemed kind of off earlier.” She says, and you quickly rip your gaze from her. She definitely notices. “I could just.. tell.”

“It’s nothing, really.” You sigh, rubbing small circles into her scalp. You were kind of hoping she’d brush it off, but noooooo. She has to be  _ observant. _

She grabs your hands to still your motions momentarily, giving you a more serious look. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Nah, I’m just anxious about tomorrow, I’ll get over it.” You meet her eyes again, and hers waver between yours as if she’s searching for a different answer. Like she doesn’t really believe you, even though honestly, that’s all it really is. You feel a little something there in your chest when you realize that she’s only like this because she actually cares about you. “Don’t worry about me.” You insist, not really wanting to overthink the day you’ve got ahead of you. 

“Want me to come to the lesson?" She offers as she drops your hands, tilting her head in question; a glob of shampoo suds run down the side of her neck. The sight is weirdly enticing.. or maybe you’re just a little pent up. Being here alone with her after what feels like forever, and naked on top of that has your brain thinking of things you probably shouldn’t be thinking of right now. 

You’re only a  _ little _ ashamed of yourself.

“Don’t you fucking dare, Spinel. You’ll just give me performance anxiety.” You resume massaging her scalp, managing to get some shampoo also into her ends. You briefly have a passing thought about not wanting to dry out her long strands, because split ends at this hair length fucking blow, and then you remember she’s a gem. That doesn’t even matter. You feel a little jealous that she doesn’t have to put these kinds of thoughts into her daily routine.

"I wouldn't  _ do _ anything, promise. Maybe a comment or two, but that's it." She retorts as she brings her palms up in feign offense, and you push her gently back by her shoulders under the stream of water to rinse out her hair, careful to not get her eyes. She sighs as you run your fingers against her scalp, eyes nearly  _ drooping  _ she’s so relaxed. "This feels really nice.." She mumbles, and the way it has your heart feeling like someone’s dropped pop rocks into it..

"I know you have work to do tomorrow though, so don't shirk your duties.” You’re basically caressing her head at this point, and she’s totally leaning into it completely. You have a feeling if you dropped your hands from her head, it’d slam into a wall. “I'll ask Garnet to sit in since she offered."

"Y/N." She looks at you, water running down her hair and face, cascading over her small shoulders. The marks beneath her eyes are strikingly dark in this light, and her pink irises are locked onto yours. You're barely listening to the lofi song playing in the background as it's mainly drained out by the white noise of the shower. She's pretty, in a way that you probably think she's never considered before, and sometimes you wish you could say this out loud without feeling like you'd combust on the spot instead. She then opens her mouth almost hesitantly, like she's finding the proper words to say. "If 'ya need me, I can be there. But.. you're kind of the bravest person I know by a long shot, so.. I  _ know _ you'll be okay. You've got this, doll."

You feel your face burning at the pet name and her words, and you find yourself avoiding her eyes again. You can’t even think of a reply, and feel like you might have a heart attack.

"Are you  _ blushing?!" _ She grabs your forearms in glee, and you feel your face scowling just to cover up the fact that she can have this kind of effect on you.  _ No one _ has this effect on you, and goddammit you’re not about to start showing it now.

"No, idiot. It's just hot in here.." You retort, and she leans right into your personal space, about an inch from your face. Your heartbeats feel so INCREDIBLY loud in your ears.

"Liar." Her grin gets wider, and you can see her canines right there at the edge of her lip. WHY is she so attractive?! This should be illegal. "I can keep talking 'ya up if that's what you need."

"Not necessary, or needed, really.." You trail off awkwardly, knowing your face is still beet red and pretending it’s from the heat of the shower. 

"Did'ja know that you're also the funniest person I know? And the smartest? And the sexi-"

_ "-SPINEL." _ You cut her off with a choke, voice coming out all strangled.

"You've got 'ta be the most stubborn person alive, I swear." She lowers her eyes, gaze lingering on your lips. The way some of her water-logged hair clings to her skin has your eyes glued to her chest, and the gem that sits upon it. 

"You should spend a few weeks hanging out with Pearl." You try to play it off cool, and you’re anything but. 

"Why, when I'd rather spend it with  _ you." _ She retorts with an eyeroll, and like, you know that the both of you have your affections laid out on the metaphorical table already, but you still find your face burning at her being so clear with it. “If it’s not compliments ‘ya want, I can be a distraction?” She asks, and then blinks several times rapidly in succession very comically, and you can’t help it but laugh.

“Yeah? And how?” You ask stupidly.

“Ohhhh, remember earlier in the kitchen?”

Your eyes snap to hers. Is she..

"Wait, you’re talking about doing it in the sho-"

She yanks your arms - pulling you forward into a kiss, and your foot slips so hard on the tub floor that you have to catch yourself on her shoulders. Her laughter rings out through the bathroom.

"Oh stars,  _ Y/N  _ falling into my arms? I never thought-"

"Shut uuuuuuuup," You groan, glaring at her. The thought of the two of you, here, fucking in the shower is swirling inside your head. Both of you are wet and pressed together, and you are screaming internally. "You're the one that caught me off guard, asshole."

"Maybe I just wanna see you swooning, for once. Or squirming. I'm not too choosy." The grin on her face mixed with her words has you feeling some kind of way, and you try to still your rapidly beating heart. She wants to see you  _ squirm?! _ You're flattered, and also embarrassed..

"I don't  _ swoon, _ Spinel. You know me better than that by now. And if you couldn't make me squirm before all this, when we weren't even friends, then good fucking luck with trying that out now that I'm familiar with you." You spit out, hoping the nervousness in your voice doesn't give you away. She doesn't need to know that you  _ like it _ when she's a little aggressive and grabby. That would give her too much power.

Her eyes flicker across your face, catching onto something within your expression; her grin widens.

"Then  _ why _ do you seem so nervous now?"

"Uh," Your heart jumps into your throat, and you feel the red creeping back onto your cheeks. Curse your now-pink complexion. "Pffft. What? I do not! Why the hell do you think I'm nervous!?" You lie, and it comes out of your throat an octave higher you think, which is fucking embarassing really.

"Well," She chuckles briefly, and then her face drops considerably into an expression you'd deem nearly sinister if you didn't know her. 

"Um-"

She pushes you back against the shower wall behind you  _ hard  _ \- a squeak comes out your mouth - as the air leaves your lungs _ , _ her hand splayed out on your chest into holding you there. It feels almost like silence has filled the room, when it's quite the opposite actually - the sound of the water hitting you both is quite deafening as you stare at each other. You think she can feel your heartbeats. Like, her hand is RIGHT THERE. Her thumb even rubs the skin there a little.

"I'm starting to think you  _ like _ it when I manhandle you." She says, voice low. Her fingers are pressing into your sternum.

You take the time to breathe in some air, and try to blink like a normal person. A droplet of water runs down your lower spine and you fight off a shiver. Are you  _ really _ that easy to read!?

"Your silence is speaking volumes right now." She chuckles, eyes watching you like a hawk.

You have no idea what your face is displaying, but it's probably something similar to mortified shock - how can she keep hitting the nail on the head?

"Oh, shit, am I hurting you?" She quickly pulls her hands away, nearly looking frantic as her face twists into worry at your silence.

_ "No,  _ of course not-" You stop, getting a weird look on your face. "-I  _ died, _ remember? You can't, pfft, - I mean you can, but. Spinel." You try not to laugh, because her being worried about this is extremely endearing, and you love her so, so much. "You're not hurting me, and if you were, I'd make sure you knew."

"Okay, good, because I was really worried there for a second that I had-"

"It's fine." You reassure her, and she's looking at you intently. "Seriously."

"Like, you know that I'd rather poof myself than ever put a finger on 'ya, right?"

"I'm aware, and you know that I trust you, yes?" 

"I was 'kinda worried, but, it's clear now." She's so very close to your face, and she's warm. Her eyes take in your features as if she's burning them into her memories, and you can't help but stare back. 

She kisses you again, wet lips pressing against yours so easily - it's as if she had been coordinating this as soon as she stepped into the shower with you. Or maybe this was her  _ entire _ reason. Bastard. 

She slides one of her legs between yours - yeah, okay, she was definitely planning this - and you find yourself groaning into her mouth; hot water spraying onto the both of you. You tear your face away from hers momentarily to take in a gasp of breath and she grabs your jaw, her vibrant pink irises locked onto yours.

"Breathe through your nose." She demands, not giving you any kind of opportunity to get away as she kisses you almost roughly. You feel like your entire body is on fire. 

Her body's pressed against yours; and at this angle you can see her gemstone shining in the light above you, glistening with water. She slides her knee up to put pressure between your legs, and as to not make it so _easy_ for her you attempt to slam them shut - only making the situation worse for yourself. 

You moan as you feel her pressed against your clit, and you feel her grinning against your mouth. She slides her tongue in then, and the combined sensations has your head feeling a little light. It actually irks you enough to attempt to push her off of you to get some kind of leverage over her, but she clearly anticipated some kind of fight because she  _ growls _ against your mouth in resistance, and uses both her hands to slam yours against the wall behind you with an iron grip.

What a  _ brat. _

The harder you struggle, the more she presses all of herself against you. Her grip on your forearms get a little tighter; and you find that this just makes all of your current problems worse. She rips her lips away from yours to give you some kind of smug, shit-eating grin. "You're really trying this time, aren't 'ya doll. I'll give 'ya that."

"Why won't you let me touch you?!" You spit out, but it comes out all breathily and not at all aggressive like you'd hoped.

"If you're good, maybe." She laughs, and you wish you could disappear on the spot at will. "But this is  _ your _ turn."

_ "IF I'M- _ " You hiss out, Spinel switching her grip so she's got the both of your hands in one, making the other completely free to grope your breast. Her palm rubs over your nipple. "You are such a  _ shithead!!" _

"You knowwww, if you don't  _ like _ it you could  _ always _ tell me you wanna stop," Her eyelids lower enough to still see her irises glued to your face, and she leans in to whisper into your ear. "But we already know that you want this, Y/N."

You snap your mouth shut and she chuckles darkly, and you would like to die now, thanks. If there's a god out there, you hope he's merciful and smites you on the spot.

She immediately attacks your neck, and she doesn't give you any kind of say about it either. She's using  _ so _ much teeth this time that you're worried you're going to look like a spotted leopard tomorrow, and  _ oh god, _ you almost forgot.

"Leave any marks and I'll attempt to poof you myself, Spinel." You shudder as she sucks hard near the crook of your neck, hot tongue against your skin, and when she looks at you her eyes have some kind of suspicious glint to them. 

"Wear a sweater." Is all she says before going right back to your neck, and the only thing you can really do is bite back a moan as she continues. You're going to kill her for this. You're going to find out how to embarrass her in front of her new friends, or  _ SOMETHING. _ How the fuck are you going to cover up these marks before your class tomorrow?! The several shades of pink blush you picked up from the drug store a few days ago from your  _ previous _ shenanigans barely managed to cover the lighter marks she left last time! 

You feel her slide a hand down your torso to reach between your legs, and with the last of your strength you try and slam your legs shut just to make this difficult for her.

She chuckles into your neck, and her warm breath lights your nerves on fire. It's so steamy in here now, and some kind of jazz oldie is playing that you can kind of hear over the sound of running water. And then she drops your hands just to grip both of your thighs and spread them apart forcefully, and there's nothing you can really do about that. You know that you're heavily aroused, and you hope it isn't too obvious to her.

Holding you open, she presses her palm against you, tips of her fingers hesitating at your entrance. Like she's waiting for something.. your legs start to tremble, then she slides two fingers into you and you slam a hand over your mouth to stop yourself from moaning.

"No one's going to hear us, 'ya idiot." You hear her say, and you nearly laugh. She immediately curls her fingers upwards, and you're seeing stars at the edges of your vision.

"You think I care about being loud? I just don't want you to think you can drag anything out of me too easily," You say in between breaths, and she makes some kind of displeased grunt in reply.

"Asked for this.." Is what you hear from her before she adds a third finger; you take it quite easily, embarrassingly enough, and starts to  _ really _ finger fuck you as she watches your face. 

A strangled moan comes out of you, and you see the corner of her lip curl enough to show her teeth. You hate that she can do this to you. Your hands are free though, and you think you can fuck with her a little as payback. One of your hands shoot out to touch her gem, and she lowers her eyes to glare at you and the offending appendage.

"Whaddya' think you're 'doin, Y/N?" She asks, lowly. There's a darker pink that bleeds onto her cheeks quite rapidly here, and you swipe a thumb over her center facet in spite.

"Whatever I want." You reply. Her eye twitches.

"I don't think so." She hisses and slams her lips against yours - roughly pushing your hand away from her gem, like how dare you have the audacity to even  _ think _ about touching her right now. She presses you against the wall with her own body, and you moan into her mouth.

Your thighs are shaking, and the hot steam mixed with the noises of her roughly pounding her slick fingers inside you makes it apparent that you're actually not going to last like this at all. She drags moan after moan from you relentlessly, unable to stop herself from biting down into the crook of your neck like she's trying to claim you for herself. As if you'd let anyone  _ else _ touch you like this.

And then she lifts up her head enough to warmly whisper something about how much she  _ loves being in the middle of your thighs like this _ into your ear, and you start to see stars as your orgasm violently wracks through your body.

She holds you, watching your face as you come down, leaving small kisses upon your lips.

"Was that okay?" She mumbles the question, looking at you to make sure you're alright. The water is starting to lose heat, which means both of you should finish this up soon.

"I'm going to make you regret ever taking  _ me _ as a hostage." You answer with a grin, and her eyebrows shoot up into her hairline. 

"Are 'ya sure about that?" She replies, withdrawing her fingers from you ever so slowly. 

You think you're in the clear, and then she slides them back in, and you can't cut the gasp that comes out of your mouth. You slam a hand on her shoulder, glaring at your girlfriend.

"I'm  _ sensitive, _ you jerk." You spit out at her, and she grins cheekily. She then actually pulls out her fingers for real, and you really, really want to make her pay for this. "Let's finish this up, the water is getting colder by the minute."

The both of you quickly finish your bathing routine, and you're almost annoyed that Spinel can just vanish water from her completely while you're still soaking wet, and trying to dry yourself with a towel.

You put on your sleepwear and drag your girlfriend to bed, where you pay her back  _ tenfold _ . You honestly hope the walls aren’t thin.

You're tired, and sleep comes to you easy with thoughts of what tomorrow will bring. 


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> re-wrote some of last chapter for those of you who didn't know, and left a note as to why

Today is another hot, bright day outside, and you have not had enough coffee to deal with it. Or any at all, actually.

Currently it's about an hour before your first lesson, and you're at Kiki's place - sitting on the toilet inside her bathroom in particular - trying to not panic.

"-and then! I told her if she wants to keep  _ borrowing _ my jacket, the least she can do is NOT get mustard all over it! Can you  _ believe _ her?!" Kiki huffs out next to your ear, dabbing more pigmented cover-up against your collarbone.

"Why the hell do you buy clothes that you know she'll keep stealing? You know she's not going to stop since you basically wear the same size." You reply, leaning into her brush. It tickles your skin, and you feel yourself almost sneezing.

"Because they're cuuuuuute,  _ okay?" _ She whines, twisting her face in concentration as she smears makeup on a particular spot on your neck. "Wow she really did a number on you here.. are these  _ teeth _ marks?"

"Pretend you didn't see them, just cover them up as best as you can," You plead, giving her The Face you know she can't resist. She rolls her eyes. "I just wanna look professional, you know?"

"They're gems, Y/N." She makes a point to jab you particularly hard on the side of your neck with her brush. "You seriously think they're going to care? Or notice?"

"Well, apparently a few humans signed up too, and I really would prefer to not get any more looks, er - more than the usual, anyway." You feel your phone vibrate in hand, and look down to see Steven giving you several thumbs up to your earlier text. 

"Why are humans signing up?" She asks, pausing momentarily.

"Not sure? But I'm blaming Steven on that." You reply, remembering to shoot Garnet a message as well about having her attend just in case you make a fool out of yourself in front of a crowd.

"Maybe they saw you with Spinel, and thought,  _ hey, maybe the rest of us could-" _

A door slams against a wall, and you hear a resounding ' _ HEYYYYYYYY' _ from the hallway in a  _ very  _ familiar voice. Several pairs of footsteps are walking towards the bathroom the two of you are in.

Oh god, you need to go. You attempt to stand up from sitting on the toilet, and Kiki forces a hand on your shoulder with an "I'm not  _ done!" _

"Kiki!" Jenny pops her face into the bathroom doorway with an infectious smile. "What are you dooooooooo-  _ whoa, Y/N?!"  _

If you could clap your hands and disappear, you would.

"Heyyyyy  _ Jenny,"  _ You greet her as flatly as you can, and then Lars also pops his head into the doorway. Oh. Great. "Lars. What are you guys doing here?"

Lars gasps dramatically, pointing to your neck. "YOOOOOOOUUUUUU-"

Kiki silences him with her palm over his mouth. "Dude I already told you, why are you being  _ so _ dramatic right now,"

"You  _ TOLD _ him?!" You screech, feeling completely betrayed.

"Well,  _ YEAH, _ clearly you were going to just internalize it and dance around the subject!" She places her hands on her hips, makeup brush still in her fist. "I'm just expediting the process!"

"Tell him what!?" Jenny pipes in, completely engrossed.

"That Y/N's dating Spinel!" Kiki huffs out, like this is  _ obvious information,  _ and Jenny gasps.

“I wasn’t going to dance around the subject!! I just haven’t had the chance to shoot him a text yet..” You mumble, trailing off sheepishly. Okay, so, you know you should’ve told Lars already! It’s just.. Ugh. Talking about your feelings is hard. The face Jenny’s making is making you wish you could flush yourself down the toilet.

“You  _ dumbass, _ were you seeing how long you could hide this from me?! After  _ all _ I did for you.” Lars crosses his arms over his chest, miffed. “It’s whatever, I knew that was going to happen sooner rather than later, anyway. I was expecting like, two days,  _ tops  _ \- with how you had talked about her.”

“Am I that obvious?” You ask flatly.

“Uh,  _ yeah.” _ Jenny gives you a look. “Girl, you avoided me for an entire  _ year _ after I asked you out, and then acted like nothing ever happened. I probably would have recovered my ego a lot faster if I knew your type was  _ Gems.” _

_ “My type isn’t GEMS,” _ You sputter, utterly amazed at the audacity of the three of them.

“Yeah but your neck says otherwise,” Lars teases, and you groan, covering your face as the other two howl in laughter.

“Remind me why I’m friends with any of you?” You say, muffled behind your hands.

“Um, because you have no other options?” Kiki grins, and you put your hands down just to lightly kick her on the shins, and she chokes out a snort.

“So, what’s the occasion? Why are you dolling up Y/N?” Jenny peers over at you, taking in the new.. upgrades to your appearance.

“She’s got some lessons today, and wanted to look more  _ professional,” _ Kiki rolls her eyes, like somehow you wanting to not talk to a class looking like you got half-mauled by a sea lion is ridiculous. “Speaking of, did you want me to cover the scar on your face?”

“Ehhh, leave it. I don’t really care about that.” You look at the time on your phone, knowing you need to leave soon. Spinel has texted you a few words of encouragement coupled with quite a pile of heart emojis, and you have to school your face into not smiling at it like some sort of cheese ball.

"I think you look cooler with it anyway," Jenny tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, her gold earrings shining in the light of the bathroom. "Makes you look like you won't take shit from anyone."

"What about my scar?" Lars asks. "Is my face scar not cool??"

"Yours looks more like you fought a raccoon in a  _ dumpster." _ Jenny grins, and you can't help the laugh that comes out of your mouth as Lars sputters at her response.

The four of you chat for a little while longer while you finish up with Kiki, Jenny asking w _ ay _ too many questions about your personal life - but this time, you don't feel uneasy at all about sharing some of the details with her. 

-

You're standing in the middle of Little Homeworld near the town center, coffee in hand - surveying the area as people and gems hustle around you. You probably should've also grabbed something to eat, but it's kind of too late now. Steven's bringing you lunch after this anyway.

It's twenty minutes until your first lesson, and you're starting to see a few gems show up early. They had to relocate where you'd be having the class - originally they had given you a decent spot under some coverage, but because the attendance got so high they moved you to the literal town center for the space. There's a lot of gems (and some humans) around, and most of them are either working on small construction or going about doing their other jobs. You watch three Amethysts a few yards away struggle to lift a large sheet of glass for what looks like a new cafe. Huh. The gems are really trying for inclusivity here. 

You turn around to look at your chalkboard that Garnet placed here for you, and write out a giant welcome sign on it, along with the class title and your name. You could've probably written it a little more eloquently.. eh. The gems aren't going to care. There's some sudden yelling coming from around you, so you turn to look - one of the Amethysts nearly dropped her side of the glass because someone bumped her — aaaand it's Spinel, with Bismuth next to her, who are reading over some blueprints.

You stand there, hoping Spinel hasn't seen you. She doesn't know your class got moved, but you're positive she was supposed to be working with  _ not _ Bismuth today. Great. You don't need a reason to be any more anxious about this than you are, even if seeing her pink hair kind of sets you also at ease. 

More people and gems walk by loudly, and you start to wonder if you're going to need a megaphone. You grab your stack of papers, and go over your notes on your bench while you bide your time until it's noon.

About five minutes pass, and someone sits next to you on your bench. 

"Heyyyy." A familiar voice speaks, and you look up - you're greeted with the smiling face of that rose quartz you've bumped into twice. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, it's you," You reply, a bit off-guard. You weren't expecting anyone to sit and  _ chat _ with you, nonetheless the very specific gem you keep randomly meeting. 

"Saw you sitting here, and wanted to say hello before I went to this class I signed up for," She holds out her hand, her bright smile not making you feel as uneasy as it did the previous day. "I realized I never introduced myself. You can call me Rosie, if you want. The other quartzes have taken a liking to it."

"Rosie, huh.. that's actually a nice name. Mine's Y/N." You return her smile, and shake her hand.. which is strangely soft.

"Are you here for the lesson too? I'm pretty excited about this one, this has to be the most interesting class they've got on the current schedule right now." She leans in, putting an arm up on the bench back for support. More gems have started to gather in the centre now. 

"I am, but I'm actually the one teaching it.." You reply almost sheepishly, and her eyes widen in response.

"You're  _ teaching _ it?!" She lights up immediately. "I thought it was just gonna be one of the other gems! No  _ wonder _ so many came here from Homeworld for this!"

"... you're pulling my leg, right? How would  _ any  _ of them have heard of this? We only posted this class within the last week, and just on the singular board." You feel the bubbles of dread in your stomach. Or maybe that's just the excessive caffeine.

"I heard a couple talking about fliers over there, I'm not sure, but they were  _ so  _ excited." She takes a second to look around, and lowers her voice briefly. "I heard that one of the  _ Diamonds _ wanted to attend, even."

**WHAT.** Your brain cannot deal with this information.

"B-but they're not, right?" You hear your voice waver, and you push your creeping anxiety down. "I don't think I can deal with a Diamond here, today."

She laughs, and it's not mockingly. It's almost sweet, actually.

"That would be something, wouldn't it?" She winks at you, a light smile on her face. "But no. I don't see their gaudy ships, so I think you can rest easy."

“Phewwwww,” You dramatically wipe your hands down your face, and let out a groan. “I was so worried there for a sec. What would the  _ Diamonds _ care about interacting with humans, anyway? So absurd.”

“I have  _ no _ idea,” She giggles at your antics. “Your guess would be about as good as mine.”

You see Spinel staring in your general direction, and your heart rate speeds up when you see her eyes connect with yours. Her face lights up like you’re the best thing she’s ever seen in her life, and you can’t stop the goofy smile that breaks out on your face. You wave at her, and she nearly drops the box she’s holding to enthusiastically wave back.

“Who’s that?” Rosie asks, face turned to peer at Spinel way over there.

“My girlfriend.” Is what comes out of your mouth automatically, and she whips her head back to stare at you with a strange face.

“You’re  _ dating _ a gem?!” She hisses out, clearly shocked as her eyebrows shoot up into her hairline.

“Yes -  _ jeez, why does everyone always react this way _ \- and it’s not THAT weird, before you ask,” You say, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment.

“And a  _ Spinel, _ of all gems? No offense.” She looks back over to stare at said pink-haired gem, before turning back to you. 

“What’s  _ that _ supposed to mean?” You give her a look, taking immediate offense to her statement. She brings her hands up in defense.

“I didn’t mean it like - It’s just, Spinels seemed to always be designed for friendship; not romance. I’ve physically witnessed three dating  _ catastrophes _ between them and other gems, in my time.”

“Well,  _ my _ Spinel is perfectly fine.” You say, and it comes out a little more aggressively than you had wanted, and she recoils a bit. “But thanks for your concern.”

“I'm sorry, it wasn’t my intention to offend you.” She at least has the decency to look apologetic. “How long have you two been dating?”

“We just started this week..” You answer.

“New relationship, huh.” She looks like she’s studying your face, and you’re not sure how you feel about it. “I do wish you two the best,”- There’s a sudden low murmur in the group of gems nearby you, and you look over to see what they’re mumbling about.

Fucking hell.

Jasper, yeah  _ THAT Jasper, _ is standing over in the now pretty fucking large crowd of gems that’s gathered to attend your class, and you don’t know whether to laugh or scream. 

“Whoa, she’s  _ huge.”  _ Rosie does a double-take at said gem, eyes widening hilariously.

“Yeah, a huge bitch. Jasper fucking hates humans, why the hell is she even here?” You groan, hoping that maybe she’ll just sit quietly and not make any remarks or heckle the other students.

"You know her?" She asks, amused by your response.

"Unfortunately, thanks to Steven." 

"That kid is some kind of magnet for problems of all shapes and sizes." She laughs, shaking her head.

"You don't even know the half of it.." You give her a tired look, and she laughs even more. She asks you a few more questions about Steven and your life, and you answer them truthfully while attempting to distract your anxiety.

-

A hundred gems is your turnout. A bit over, actually, and a handful of humans too.

You maybe feel just a  _ little _ in over your head with this, but, well.. it's too late now. You spot quite a few gems you've seen before in the crowd, as well as Onion of  _ course, _ and your neighbor George. You even spot Buck sitting in the middle of a group of Lapis who look like they're discussing heavy gossip with him, and he's actually engaged. Interesting.

There are..  _ so _ many eyes peering at you. You've never talked to a crowd this big in your entire life, and public speaking has never been your strong suit. But these gems came here for a specific reason, and goddammit, the thought of Pearl or Sour Cream teaching this instead in your place just doesn't sit right with you at this point.

You greet the class once the volume dies down enough, and a wave of enthusiastic greetings come back at you. You see Garnet in the corner and she gives you a thumbs up, and honestly it makes you feel a lot better that she's here.

You start off with your orientation notes, and talk generally about the basics, mainly about the similarities between gems and humans as common ground. Literally only about three minutes into this class, and a quartz that is most likely from Homeworld raises her hand. You call on her.

"Is it true that humans eat their younglings?" She shouts out from the middle of the crowd, her vibrant purple hair half covering one of her eyes. 

"Er," You stumble on your words, a little perturbed that  _ that's  _ the first question you get. "No, humans don't eat their young at all, you're probably confusing us with some other species."

She nods, like that  _ sounds _ like the right answer, and then about twenty more hands shoot up.

"Let's save the questions until I at least get through this pile of papers, guys," You insist, and a noise of disapproval comes from near the front left side of the group. You turn your head, and.. it's fucking Jasper. Does she know that you'd throw hands with her if it were not for the fact that you're trying to be professional? 

You completely ignore her, and continue on with what you were previously talking about.

A good 20-25 minutes pass, and you're now in a good place to stop so people can ask their questions. A few humans you don't recognize ask you about how you know so much, and you answer truthfully. You briefly talk about living with Steven and the Crystal Gems, and how easy it was to co-exist. 

A  _ LOT _ more hands pop up after that. 

"This might sound strange, but how do you ask a human to be friends?" The Lapis you call on asks. 

"You  _ can _ just ask. Humans do it too. Sometimes people prefer to form them naturally though, but if you guys are already talking then it's a good sign." 

"But what about if they scream at you?" Another gem blurts out, and you curb the bark of laughter that wants to escape from your mouth.

"Generally speaking, what do you do if a  _ gem _ screams at you? Same principle. Guys, humans and gems are way more similar than you think, and communication is key in this." At least your voice is steady, and you don't really feel as anxious as you were before, since the class seems to actually be going smoother than you had thought.

The giant hand of the Morganite in the middle of the crowd waves frantically, and you call on her with amusement. It's kind of cute how excited and interested a lot of the gems are. "You seem to have a ton of gem friends, and  _ I _ have no human friends! Could you be my first?" She yells at you.

"Oh, I don't see why not," You answer truthfully, feeling a bit sheepish and taken aback by her request. Once those words leave your lips though, half the crowd starts shouting - _ ME! ME TOO! COULD YOU BE MY FRIEND?? - _ and you can't help feeling a little flustered as you try to calm the class down, taking a few more regular questions to keep it going.

You don't even realize through the noise of the center of little Homeworld when you spot a camera crew at the edge of your crowd, setting something up. It's the fucking local news station, what the FUUUUUUUUCK. You try not to outwardly display your internal panic and it's proving to be one of the hardest things you've ever done.

"When did you get that scar?" Jasper stares at you from her seat, pointing to your face.

You freeze momentarily at the lack of tact in that question, and that's when you spot Spinel off to the side of the class, at the edge of the crowd of students. Your brain stutters.

"U-um. It was during an accident with my girlfriend." You blurt out quickly, and instantly regret those words. You should've fucking lied or something because you can see Rosie narrowing her eyes at you in the front.

"Is that why you look like that now?" Jasper grunts out, crossing her arms. If you could throttle her you would in a heartbeat.

"Yes." You state firmly, meeting her gaze. She looks a little surprised at your answers. "Anyway, moving on." You hear a few murmurs in the crowd after that, opting to ignore how anxious it makes you.

You answer a few more questions, and try to not look at Spinel who keeps raising her hand with the rest of the gems.  _ Shouldn't she be working?! _ Oh god, of course the camera crew is actually filming something - you can barely offhandedly hear the reporter spouting off something about little Homeworld into the camera as it pans around him. 

Your heartbeats are hammering in your chest, but you move onto more questions and try to keep your cool. Eventually you can't ignore how obnoxiously your girlfriend is raising and waving her hand trying to get your attention - several gems around her keep pointing at her so you'll give her a chance.

Oh, little do they know.

You sigh, resigning to letting her ask a question.

"Spinel." You call on her with a pointer finger as neutrally as possible, which is  _ way _ harder than you had thought.

_ "Finally!" _ She cries with a fist pump, and a few people around her chuckle. "I just wanted ‘ta ask, is it possible for a gem and a human to  _ fuse?” _

You feel yourself freeze on the spot, taken completely by surprise. There’s a couple murmurs among the crowd.

Why the fuck is she asking that.

“U-um, no, unfortunately there’s no way to do that because of the differences in our biological make-up,” You say, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment - there are so many eyes staring at you.

“Well that  _ sucks!” _ A random gem in the crowd shouts, and quite a few gems erupt in laughter. 

You try your best to wind them down and finish with their many, many questions.

It isn’t long until the class is over - you had only taken up hour sessions, and you’re so thankful for it. The class went over well, and many gems walk up to you to chat and shake your hand, and the local news station seems to be interviewing a couple gems on what went on - you guess there’s some sort or segment they’re doing on Little Homeworld, and today just happens to be the day they chose to do that.

You avoid the camera crew as much as possible as you tidy up your belongings, and Spinel walks up to you as you gather your papers in your arms.

“That went pretty good!” She beams at you, looking proud. You squash your feelings of affection that overwhelm you - you wish you could kiss her if you were not in public.

“Yeah, and if you ever ask me a question like that in my classes again, I’m actually going to ban you. I’ll even put up a photo of your face so the other’s know to barr you from the class.” You scoff at her, and she completely disregards it, getting a little closer to you to give you a look that you recognise as her challenging you.

“That wouldn’t work on me anyway,” She grins, hand raising up to tuck the stray hair that just flew into your face - she looks to the side of you briefly as you hear footsteps and speaking - 

_ FUCKKK, THE REPORTER IS WALKING RIGHT OVER HERE. _

Your eyes dart back to Spinel, body posed to leave. “U-Um, I gotta-”

“Ma’am! Maaaaa’am!” You hear the reporter shout at you. 

Cool cool, keep it cool. Just breathe. You want to vomit.

"You two look pretty close." He remarks as he jogs up to you, slightly out of breath. The cameraman follows him, and if you could  _ run _ you would. But you'd rather not be turned into a local meme, so your feet are firmly planted in the spot. "I wanted to catch you before you left, Miss Teacher!" He smiles brightly at you - that you know is just for the camera. 

"I was just finishing up." You smile politely. 

"I wanted to ask you a few questions regarding the class you just held if that's alright with you?" He asks, adjusting the small mic on his collar. He also holds up the microphone that the logo of the local news station is emblazoned on.

"Sure." You feel your nerves go haywire. This is way, waaaay too much pressure for you, you feel like you're going to faint, the fucking  _ cameraman _ just winked at you.

"What's your name, firstly." 

"Y/N." You answer him with just your first name, and he gives you a look. 

"Last name? You  _ gotta _ have a last name." He insists. 

You tell him your last name, and his eyebrows furrow before they shoot up into his hairline.

" _ Last name,  _ last name?" He implores, holding the microphone closer to your face. "Like,  _ -last name- _ the lawyer working on that Gem case in Empire city,  _ -last name-!?" _

Oh. You forgot about your father. 

"Y-yes," You stutter out in a panic, and instantly regret waking up this morning.

God fucking dammit.


End file.
